Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the groundbreaking for a new company MAGNA International in Lancaster, Ohio, Tuesday, July 30, 2019. (Eric Albrecht/The Columbus Dispatch via AP)

The Latest: Pence warns against 2020 Democratic 'socialists'

July 31, 2019 - 10:40 am

The Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — The Latest on the second round of Democratic presidential primary debates in Detroit (all times local):

1:25 p.m.

Vice President Mike Pence says policies promoted by certain 2020 Democratic presidential "socialists" will spell the end of American values.

The vice president told students at a conference for conservative youth in Washington on Tuesday that the latest Democratic debate "wasn't between moderates and liberals, it was between liberals and socialists."

Pence says young people must resist the "siren song of socialism" by ensuring that President Donald Trump is reelected.

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11:05 a.m.

President Donald Trump is warning that his 2020 Democratic rivals will lead the country "into an economic sinkhole" as he weighs in on the first debate in Detroit.

Trump was uncharacteristically quiet through Tuesday night's debate but tweeted without evidence Wednesday morning that if he "hadn't won the 2016 Election" the U.S. "would be in a Great Recession/Depression."

Trump says the Democratic candidates "will lead us into an economic sinkhole the likes of which we have never seen before." He adds, "With me, only up!"

Ten more Democrats including Joe Biden and Kamala (KAH'-mah-lah) Harris will debate on Wednesday night.

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10:45 p.m. Tuesday

Democratic presidential candidates are closing out the latest debate in Detroit.

Marianne Williamson, who won over the crowd with her comments on Flint, Michigan's water crisis, is calling for "some radical truth telling."

Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, who clashed with two of the leading progressives on stage, says Democrats must offer "real solutions, not impossible promises" to defeat President Donald Trump.

But Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren says Democrats should be the "big party of structural change."

And Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says he is running to "transform this country and to stand with the working class of America," which he says has been decimated for decades.

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10:30 p.m.

Some Democratic presidential candidates aren't eager to make age an issue in the 2020 nominating fight.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg is the youngest candidate in the Democratic field at age 37. But he turned a discussion of age at Tuesday's debate into an attack on congressional Republicans for continuing to support President Donald Trump.

Bernie Sanders is the oldest candidate on the debate stage. But the 77-year-old Vermont senator says Democratic voters must look for a candidate with "vision."

Standing next to Sanders, Buttigieg is repeating his call for a "new generation" of Democratic leaders.

Age has been a prominent issue in Democrats' nominating fight. Sanders or former Vice President Joe Biden would be the oldest newly inaugurated president if either wins.

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10:25 p.m.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says he'd work as president to strengthen the United States' standing with the United Nations and focus on diplomacy, not military action.

Sanders was asked during Tuesday's debate what differentiates his aversion to the global U.S. military presence from President Donald Trump's opposition to being "policeman of the world." Sanders responded that Trump is "a pathological liar."

Sanders's stance on diplomacy was echoed by former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Pete Buttigieg pledged to withdraw from Afghanistan — where he served — by the end of his first year in the White House.

The South Bend, Indiana, mayor also advocated for a three-year sunset provision for authorizations of the use of military force, noting that those deployed to Afghanistan will soon be too young to have been alive during the Sept. 11 attacks.

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10:10 p.m.

Pete Buttigieg says that as mayor of the diverse town of South Bend, Indiana, "the racial divide lives within me."

During Tuesday's debate, Buttigieg was asked how he would convince black voters that he should be the Democratic presidential nominee.

Buttigieg, who is white, says he didn't become mayor "to end racism," but he had worked on issues of race, crime and poverty affecting communities of color.

Buttigieg has been criticized for his handling of a police-involved shooting that took him off the campaign trail last month. He came home to a black community that was frustrated and outraged nearly five years after the Black Lives Matter movement was born amid increased awareness about the shootings of unarmed black men by police.

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10 p.m.

Democrats at the presidential debate in Detroit are weighing in on the nation's race issues.

Pointing to water problems in communities like Flint, Michigan, author Marianne Williamson says poor, minority areas fall victim to a "collectivized hatred" that only deepens their problems.

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper says Democrats must show they can "delegate an urban agenda" for substantive changes in schools and affordable housing.

Asked how she would combat white supremacy, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she would call it out as "domestic terrorism," blaming President Donald Trump for racially unequal policies in economics and education.

Tuesday's debate is the first since Trump used racist language to attack four Democratic congresswomen of color, calling on them to "go back" to their countries even though all four are U.S. citizens.

Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke is standing by his refusal to call for decriminalizing crossing the U.S.-Mexico border by undocumented migrants, saying he will instead overhaul immigration policy enough that "I expect people who come here to follow our laws."

O'Rourke says that if he is elected president, he will protect those seeking U.S. asylum and people brought to the country illegally as children.

Other presidential candidates are calling for full decriminalization. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren says current laws have given President Donald Trump "the power to break families apart" at the border.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says he doesn't consider women and children who walked thousands of miles criminals, and says Trump has demonized all immigrants.

The latest Democratic presidential debate has opened with a lengthy argument over the variety of health care proposals that have become a sticking point between centrists and progressives.

Sen. Bernie Sanders began what became a series of exchanges among all 10 candidates on stage in Detroit by telling former Rep. John Delaney "you're wrong" over a previous characterization of his "Medicare for All" proposal. Delaney had referred to the plan as "political suicide."

Universal health coverage has been a cornerstone of both of Sanders' presidential campaigns. He noted that countries like Canada have lower health care costs.

Challenged by Rep. Tim Ryan on a point, Sanders retorted, "I wrote the damn bill."

President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have cast the Democrats' reform plans as extreme.

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8:35 p.m.

Democratic presidential candidates are wasting no time revealing the fault lines between progressives and moderates as they open Tuesday's debate.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are using their opening statements to hammer an economic and political system they say is rigged for the wealthy and corporations.